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Recently, there have been several extensive arguments over the copyright status of various external links; see Talk:On the Jews and their Lies (status of a Martin Luther translation) and Talk:Fate/stay night (legality of fan-made translations). In my opinion, these arguments are a pointless waste of time. The Foundation is responsible for the content of Wikipedia itself, and, obviously, it is very important to ensure that text, images, and media posted to Wikipedia have an acceptable copyright status. This in itself takes up a lot of time and effort, but it is worth it. What is not worth it is squabbling over the status of sites that we aren't even responsible for. Just the fact that we provide an external link does not constitute an endorsement of the site in question. The argument over On the Jews and their Lies involves a tremendous amount of wasted effort by Wikipedians to determine the copyright status of something that we are not even hosting here. If someone wanted to put it on Wikisource, this discussion would be justified. But an external link just doesn't rise to that level. If the copyright holder has a problem, they can take it up with whatever site actually has posted the material. To put it briefly, it is not our job to police the entire Web, or to do the RIAA and MPAA's job for them. That's not what I signed up for. We can prevent copyright violations on our own site, and refrain from linking to obvious and blatant violations on other sites (e.g. it's pretty obvious that a site that publishes the full text of a Stephen King novel doesn't have the right to do so). But in cases where the issues are unclear, just leave the links in. It's not our problem. *** Crotalus *** 23:14, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
Your argument is weird. It is true that Wikipedia has no legal obligation to pre-emptively investigate the copyright of the material we link to. However, you seem to go further and suggest that any volunteer who chooses to engage in such an investigation is wasting their time and should stop. That is a weird position to take, as if trying to respect copyright is somehow a bad thing. If the investigation is such a waste then anyone is free to ignore the process, but if a likely conclusion is reached (e.g. either infringing or not) then they should still respect the outcome and remove the link if appropriate. Dragons flight 00:19, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
(reset indent) It seems rather odd for a policy page to tell editors what is or is not a good use of their time. Why should you care how they spend their time? AGF doesn't seem to have anything to do with how we should look at possible copyright violations. And we shouldn't be directing people towards blatant copyright violations. No individual Wikipedian is under any obligation to spend hours investigating the content of external sites, but it seems very odd to reword the policy in order to imply that that would be a bad thing. ElinorD (talk) 01:32, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
User:Crotalus horridus wrote: "In my opinion, these arguments are a pointless waste of time. " Keywords there being your opinion. Frankly, you have given nobody here any reason to trust your opinions, and these pages are written by consensus, not editors trying to rewrite policy to push some personal agenda. You are completely outvoted, your ideas are impractical if not dangerous, and you certainly should not be trying to lecture other people on wasting their time when your continuous attempts to rewrite policy are a huge waste of time.
He added: "That's not what I signed up for." Fine. don't do it yourself. But stay the heck out of the way of the editors who do act responsibly and understand the importance of copyright law. DreamGuy 05:13, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
See my talk page (towards bottom). Also, see talk pages of various editors who appeared on my talk page. — Rickyrab | Talk 17:30, 3 June 2007 (UTC)
Do videos on YouTube have any copyright? Is it all right to take screenshots of YouTube videos to use on a Wikipedia article? I would like to know. I am referring to YouTube videos of news reports or music videos. I've got a couple of images that are of the sort that I am unsure. Thanks in advance.-- Kylohk 20:50, 4 June 2007 (UTC)
Can we use Wikipedia logos and copyrighted material on user templates? Technically, it's against policy (no non-free images on templates), yet common sense tells us that its probably the only exception of using non-free content on userspace. This issue was recently discussed here, and currently here. Any clarifications are welcome. - Mtmelendez ( Talk| UB| Home) 02:12, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
Hi folks,
so, what kind of attribution/license do I use when I want to upload a photograph of a copyrighted object. In particular, I'd like to photograph an album packaging to illustrate a critical commentary on the album package, or upload an already existent photograph that forms part of an album review that has been released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 (review: http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/album-review-10000-days-by-tool/ image: http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2006/05//.thumbTool1.jpg)?
Thanks in advance for the help :) Best wishes, Johnnyw talk 16:23, 18 June 2007 (UTC)
Template:PD-Old regime Iraq has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. — Jeff G. 15:12, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
Just today GPLv3 was finalized, taking the focus of the Free Software Foundation off its primary software licenses, and perhaps kicking the ongoing revision of GFDL v. 1.2 into high gear. A preliminary draft of GFDL v. 2 has been online for some time [1] and I'm wondering whether the Wikimedia Foundation is involved in that process, and if so, to what degree. The license of all wikipedia content is such that new versions of the GFDL apply *automatically* to the content once they are finalized. That being the case, I'd think this would be of paramount interest to the community. As I understand it, when GFDL v. 2 goes into effect, the content of wikipedia will become simultaneously available under GFDL 1.2, GFDL 2.0, and GSFDL 1.0. The GSFDL relicensing will happen as a provision of GFDL 2.0 since none of the wikipedia content has cover texts, invariant sections, or anything else of the sort. There's also the possibility that wikipedia will become available under the as yet undrafted GNU Wiki license, again automatically as a provision of GFDL v. 2. Any comments? Deranged bulbasaur 22:30, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
I have a question regarding student publications in U.S. public schools. What kind of copyright restrictions would scans of these publications (eg. cover) have? Would its contents be free use as well? I wasn't sure since U.S. public schools are funded by the government, but the works are student-produced and published by a private company. Thanks! Arsonal 06:59, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
When spoken words are printed somewhere, does the copyright belong to the speaker or the publisher? Or indeed if its spoken publicly is it automatically in the public domain?
The Imperial War Museum has a large collection of photographs from WWII. I believe I can upload these as it satisfies the following:
Performance, copies or lending for educational purposes (from UK copyright law)
Am I correct? Oberiko 13:17, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
I am having trouble parsing this. Does with no Invariant ... Back-Cover Texts modify this document or does it modify copy, distribute and/or modify? Is this intended to mean Wikipedia has no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts? Or is it intended to mean none can ever be added? -- Una Smith 03:41, 10 July 2007 (UTC)
Not sure this is the right place for this. The article Etienne Kuypers is currently up for AFD at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Etienne Kuypers. A substantial part of the article is a translation of the Dutch language website EtienneKuypers.com. The content of the website is copyrighted ("Alle rechten voorbehouden", all rights reserved). The author of the article has denied being the subject of the article, so is not the owner of the copyrights to the website. The question is: does a direct translation of copyrighted content qualify as a copyright violation? A ecis Brievenbus 19:50, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
I find that the wording here is vague and confusing:
"This is based on the image guidelines at IMDB"... what, exactly, is "this" alluding to? is the section describing conditions/sources under which celebrity photos are ok to use? if so, fair use or freely licensed use?
"Legitimate photographs generally come from three different places with permission". "Legitimate" means what? fair use? free license?
I thought I understood Wikipedia policy to be that press kit photos of living celebrities are not acceptable Fair Use and such uploads are Speedy Deleted. Likewise, "Used by Permission" is unacceptable for a GNU/GFDL free license. Now, after reading this section, I don't know what to believe. Am I wrong or has the policy recently changed? If not, it seems that calling such photos "legitimate" is misleading. JGHowes talk - 04:54, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
For sites that copy wikipedia wholesale articles and don't keep it under the GFDL, where and to whom should we complain? Thank you. -- Rajah 19:46, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
This site has a number of West German campaign posters from 1945-1949, showing the main political parties opinion on the territory de-facto annexed by Pland and the Soviet Union; e.g. they want it back and want that the survivors of the ethnic cleansing be allowed to return to their ancestral homes.
I was planning to write an article on the early years of that territory (i.e. the years when Germany was under Allied occupation 1945-1954, and I thought some of the campaign posters wold be relevant to use, to show that Germany at that time had not yet accepted that the territories were lost. They were by West Germany called "German territories temporarily under Polish and Soviet administration" or somthing equivalent. (The polish Communist regime had invented the term "recovered territories" to justify the Polish claim on the territory)
Is there any way for me to be allowed to use the pictures on wikipedia on the article in question (or in Generral)? If there is, what must I do? Thanks. -- Stor stark7 Talk 18:28, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
How original does something need to be to be eligible for copyright? If possible, I would like the opinion of a lawyer; would this be something to ask the Wikimedia legal counsel about? The following are examples of works that may or may not be eligible:
What about something like this: 50px. It contains the US flag which in itself cannot be copyrighted or trademarked, but does the artistic representation of the flag allow a copyright? -- Holderca1 13:30, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
Is it agreed that Image:New Jersey Turnpike Shield.svg is ineligible? It seems like there's just enough creativity to make it eligible, but if I'm overruled I accept it. -- NE2 18:44, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
Current Wikipedia policy on works made by the Soviet government is considering these works copyrighted and not appropriate for Wikipedia. But it should be noted that all state property in the USSR was constiturionally declared all-people's domain, an analog to western public domain. These works (for example, photographs from space) could be used freely by any citizen for any purpose unless the information is secret. So these items should be considered public domain at least in Russia. After the breakup of the USSR there were attempts to transfere some intellectual property to private companies, but those schemes are mostly illegal and are contested in courts.-- Dojarca 12:08, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
A deletion discussion is taking place at [2] which appears to be arguing that three view drawings of aircraft are ineligable for copyright. Megapixie 23:07, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
Is it appropriate to use material from a particular source, but to credit that particular sources citations in the article instead of the author? Torturous Devastating Cudgel 16:54, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Since we are now receiving copyright opinions and advice from the Foundation's attorney, we need a place to keep track of them for use as precedent (and so he hopefully doesn't get asked the same question 1000 times). So here it is: Wikipedia:Copyrights/MikeGodwinSays. -- But| seriously| folks 21:06, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
Would appreciate if someone with more familiarity with copyright issues and Wikipedia could take a look at the discussion at User_talk:Andi064#Joanne_Catherall_EL. I removed an EL for a fansite that had lyrics on it with no obvious "reproduced by permission" notice on it that I could find, and it got reverted by another editor, who justified the inclusion on the provided link. Would appreciate someone more knowledgeable about the subject helping make the decision on how to proceed. Thanks. -- Alucard (Dr.) | Talk 19:44, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
We've got a Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2007 August 17#Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development of an article deleted for being a copyright violation of a State of California webpage. That webpage says "© 2004 State of California", but links to a condition of use page that says "In general, information presented on this Web site, unless otherwise indicated, is considered in the public domain. It may be distributed or copied as permitted by law. However, the State does make use of copyrighted data (e.g., photographs) which may require additional permissions prior to your use." Can someone with more knowledge than those of us who are deletion focused give us an opinion? Thanks. GRBerry 01:06, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
I have created Wikipedia:Copyright on highway shields as a page to discuss and determine the copyright status of logos for highways, mainly toll roads. Please help, especially if you are familiar with copyright law. Thank you. -- NE2 03:56, 22 August 2007 (UTC)
This deals with pre-1989 law, so I'm having trouble finding the answer. Say an organization created a design (yes, a highway shield). Does every publication of that design have to include the copyright notice for it to be copyrighted, or does only the very first publication require it? -- NE2 11:19, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
With respect to copies and
phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner before the effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, the omission of the copyright notice described in sections 401 through 403 from copies or phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner does not invalidate the copyright in a work if -
[(1) it's on most copies, (2) registration is made within five years AND a "reasonable effort" is made to add it to all previous copies, or (3) it's been omitted by a third party under certain conditions]
It's probably easier to consider a specific case: the
New Jersey Turnpike.
[5] was taken in 1969. This shows the same design as at present (
Image:New Jersey Turnpike Shield.svg; assume it's not PD-ineligible). The sign was not put up by the Turnpike Authority, but the shield was either provided by them or made with specifications given by them. What conditions would have to be met for it to be public domain? --
NE2 11:49, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
"Wikipedia articles therefore will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to certain restrictions, most of which serve to ensure that freedom."
Is the word "forever" appropriate? GFDL restrictions (I won't call them "freedoms") on a work will, like other copyrights, eventually expire, so current versions of Wikipedia will in time enter the public domain. Of course, then they really will be "free forever", so maybe this doesn't matter ...
BuilderQ 17:55, 24 August 2007 (UTC)
I found an image in a book of a painting from 1834. Can I use this image as public domain? Sancho 14:01, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
If I move a discussion from my talk page to another user's talk page, is it technically a violation of the GFDL? The attribution for the edits in the discussion isn't preserved in the history there. Likewise, is " summary style" (moving paragraphs in an article to a separate page when they get too long) a violation of the GFDL? Melsaran ( talk) 14:27, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
Those interested in copyrights and public domain should take a look at this article: Copyfraud and the lengthy paper by Jason Mazzone that is cited in the article.-- Fahrenheit451 21:58, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
Based on [7], which states "Government information shall exist in the public domain to the greatest extent possible", am I correct in saying that most or all works of the Minnesota government are in the public domain? If so, should we create a tag such as {{ PD-MNGov}}? — Remember the dot ( talk) 03:05, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
According to [8], the font used for the "Alberta" in en:Image:AB-provincial highway.png is "restricted to provincial government departments and agencies". I know that fonts are generally not copyrightable in the U.S. (is that true in Canada?); what exactly does that mean here? Can I create an SVG version, or do I have to use a publicly available font that looks similar for a public domain version? -- NE2 06:55, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
At WikiProject Schools we are trying establish some basic guidelines on the copyright and reproduction of school songs, hymns, prayers, etc. As far as I can establish from studying the various Wikipedia guidelines, copyright expires between 50 and 70 years after the author's death. I believe therefore that it is possible to publish in full the song lyrics to for instance the La Martiniere School song on the La Martiniere Lucknow page as the author died in 1909. However, we currently have two good articles Auburn High School and Baltimore City College both of which reproduce lyrics written in the twentieth century. I have tried posting notices on both talk pages about the copyright status of these songs but have not received any replies. In addition I note that there is an entire category dedicated to something called fight songs at Category:Fight songs. I've only looked briefly at these songs but a lot of them seem to have been written quite recently and would appear to be infringing the copyright laws. Some songs are anonymous. What are the copyright laws in this case? Does copyright expire a given number of years after first publication or performance? Can anyone provide a brief outline of the copyright situation which we can put on the main project page to ensure that we are not permitting the publication of any copyrighted material? Dahliarose 12:38, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
I've been searching around Google, looking for webpages that are free to share, distribute and modify. Many have very nice images, but are either CC licensed with NoDerivs or NoCommercial. I've been emailing webmasters, asking them permission to release them without those parameters. How will most webmasters respond? If they distribute them with a CC license in the first place, would they be just as willing to let it be on Wikipedia?-- Alasdair 06:19, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
The instructions here (section "If you find a copyright infringement") need some co-ordination with the procedure given at WP:CP. In particular, WP:CP doesn't seem to say anything about notes on the talk page. Kappa 01:10, 18 September 2007 (UTC) The instructions here say "A note should be made on the talk page"
Hello I have proposed a change to {{ PD-Art}}. At the moment the template ignores one of the basic property laws, by making it sound like if the uploader is in the USA, they may release a work into the Public Domain, even though the copyright is legally detained by a person in another country. If you are interested in discussing please see Template talk:PD-art#International issues, Thanks. Jackaranga 02:04, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
Shouldn't that be "For legal reasons, this text should not be changed."? The current version almost implies that we can change it, as long as our reason is not a legal reason. Aaron McDaid ( talk - contribs) 14:07, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
In the article Bathhouse Row, images are added that are in the Public Domain. If you click on the images on the website from which they are taken, the images have the photographer's name on them. Example: [9] However, the images used in the article have been taken out of a PDF document and the attribution text is missing. Is this O.K. or should the attribution information remain on the photos in the article? Thanks. -- Mattisse 15:08, 27 September 2007 (UTC)
A question about lists that I posted elsewhere a week ago has gone unanswered. (Not even "What a stupid question!") Could somebody take a look? Thanks. -- Hoary 09:05, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
Hello, as you may be aware, in some countries (see Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag#Country-specific rules), photographs of 2 dimensional works that have fallen into the public domain still attract copyright. On the commons it specifically says:
When should the {{ PD-Art}} tag not be used?
On this page it specifically says:
I'm sure I'm beating a dead horse here, but the current statement in the policy --
fosters an overbroad implication, to say the least. Only one case has made this finding, and two others have explicitly made the opposite finding, and a raft of other cases have implicitly made the opposite finding. Rather than suggesting striking the sentence entirely or writing a lot of other text, I'd like to propose a somewhat more moderate and accurate wording:
If Wikimedia's policy is simply to take the absolutely most conservative reading, that's fine; however, the policy should not incorrectly state the rationale as if it were decided law in the US that linking is contributory infringement. It is not. -- lquilter 19:32, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
I've opened a discussion on the next generation of our license at Wikipedia:GSFDL comments from as many as possible are requested. Geni 02:53, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Just a quick sanity-check: for an uploaded photograph or scan of an original photograph: the copyright is that of the original, not the editor's photo or scan of it, right? So an editor couldn't claim a more permissive copyright status ("I took this picture-of-picture and assert {{ GFDL-self-no-disclaimers}}") than the original has without some sort of justification for over-riding an original's copyright status (one that doesn't seem to allow republication)? DMacks 22:26, 14 October 2007 (UTC)
Imagine the following. Wikipedia has an article on Subject X, an organisation copies it somewhere on their websiteand credits it to Wikipedia (to comply with the GFDL), and several years later the article is deleted on grounds of non-notability. Would the organisation then be in violation of the GFDL? After all, the article doesn't exist anymore on Wikipedia, so there is no way to check who wrote what. Melsaran ( talk) 19:44, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
Hello,
recently a user changed the {{ R from merge}} template to display a warning that basically says, "don't use this template". He claims a GFDL problem, referring to a mailing list discussion (see Template talk:R from merge#Template and the GFDL).
However, all instructions, such as WP:MM, refer to this template and encourage (if not require) its use. This seems very confusing.
Is there really a GFDL issue here? If so, the documentation should be updated soon. How should mergers be performed when not using the template? Could someone clarify? -- B. Wolterding 13:23, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
In order to contribute, you must be in a position to grant this license, which means that either ... you acquired the material from a source that allows the licensing under GFDL, for instance because the material is in the public domain or is itself published under GFDL.
i think there should be added: "and if the author of the material has given permission to not-showing his name after the title", following GNU FDL- 4.B:
unless they release you from this requirement.
more full quote:
4. MODIFICATIONS In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version: ... B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement. ...
quote about title:
1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS ... The "Title Page" means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.
now at Wikipedia:Copyrights is writed thus:
Contributors' rights and obligations If you contribute material to Wikipedia, you thereby license it to the public under the GFDL (with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts). In order to contribute, you must be in a position to grant this license, which means that either you hold the copyright to the material, for instance because you produced it yourself, or you acquired the material from a source that allows the licensing under GFDL, for instance because the material is in the public domain or is itself published under GFDL.
and nothing about that wikipedia-writer must write author names after title of the material, and so wikipedia-writers ca easily terminate gnu fdl license by not writing/showing/listing at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five) "on the Title Page" (For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.232.124.15 ( talk) 21:02, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
same is writen here (not by me): —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.232.124.15 ( talk) 10:44, 29 October 2007 (UTC) russian wikipedia:criticizm of wikipedia:?nonobservance of gnu fdl -4.5 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.232.124.15 ( talk) 10:38, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
I found a website Panyathai ( http://www.panyathai.or.th/wiki), they copied hundreds or thousands of Wikipedia articles without providing source or GFDL link. They say only "Thank you Wikipedia" and that's all. What should I do in this case? I contact the website owner last two months but they haven't got me back. -- Manop - TH 19:10, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
Regarding the GFDL license of Wikipedia, I have a question for which I could not yet find a direct answer. Perhaps someone here could help me?
Say someone downloaded the wikipedia data (from http://download.wikimedia.org/) and set up a website which answered some specific kind of users' queries based on the data, using some advanced, proprietary, secret algorithm, and did not release the code. Would this be a breach of the license? (Of course, the system would acknowledge and link back to the original article(s) from which the original data was taken.)
Let me give a concrete example: The wikipedia contains a lot of data on various sports, such as yearly final standings of the NBA. One could write a piece of software which analyzed this data and, based on users queries, output some reprocessed versions of it. Would setting up such a website (say, for making money by selling ads) and not releasing the source code violate the copyright?
From reading the license and various discussions on the net my guess is that this is perfectly legitimate use of the wikipedia data. For instance, I found the following quote: "Generally, a summary (or analysis) of something is not a derivative work, unless it reproduces the original in great detail, at which point it becomes an abridgement and not a summary." Nevertheless, I am not completely sure and so I thought I'd ask the experts, i.e. you.
Thanks a lot for any help/comments!
-- Phoyer 17:10, 1 November 2007 (UTC)
As I understand it, objects whose "useful purpose" outweighs their creativity are automatically considered PD-ineligible. For example, the creative element (e.g. colour and shape) will not affect the nature of a pen or a bus, whereas it will affect the nature of a sculpture or a painting.
There are a lot of "PD-ineligible" images here however, which contain the manufacturer's logo, which by itself IS copyrighted. My question therefore is "If an image of a 'useful object' contains a copyrighted component, should the image remain PD ineligible?". I suspect not, but I'd appreciate some more input here. There are a lot of these images being moved to Commons, when I think they should actually stay here under fair use.
A couple of examples:
Thanks, Papa November 12:16, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
Can someone look at the fair use rationale on [ [10]]? I don't even know where to begin... Compaqdrew 22:39, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
Is content taken from daviswiki.org OK? or COPYVIO? It is licensed under "Creative Commons Attribution License" which when clicked on the bottom of their pages points to version 3.0. Carlossuarez46 20:04, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
I have edited language on the project page to include this unambiguous statement, "Contributors who repeatedly post copyrighted material after appropriate warnings will be blocked from editing to protect the project." A statement of this sort may be required by a provision of the DMCA:
(i) Conditions for Eligibility.—
(1) Accommodation of technology.— The limitations on liability established by this section shall apply to a service provider only if the service provider—
(A) has adopted and reasonably implemented, and informs subscribers and account holders of the service provider’s system or network of, a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of subscribers and account holders of the service provider’s system or network who are repeat infringers; and"
We have the policy, but not the statement. Fred Bauder ( talk) 15:53, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
I am planning to start a wiki which I would like to 'seed' with a number of articles derived from wikipedia. Originally I just assumed all I would need to do this would be to put my own wiki under the GFDL and reference wikipedia as the source of any derived articles. I have now realised it is far more complex than that; so complex I don't actually understand what I am required to do. Do I need to find the last five editors of each article and refer to them under the title? Do I need to change my system so it does not allow anonymous edits in order to keep a track of history? etc etc. It would be far easier to understand if there were some pointers to examples of good practice. Clearly these could not be guaranteed to be compliant, and they would have to be dated ('this was a good example as of November 2007'), but they would still be very helpful in trying to interpret the mass of conditions in the GFDL (how on earth does anyone enforce the 'more than 100 printouts' type of conditions? If you have no invariant or title pages, where is all the required information supposed to go? etc)
Marinheiro ( talk) 18:23, 22 November 2007 (UTC) (It is possible that what I am trying to do is meant to be discouraged by the license; if so, it would also be helpful to know that. I would rather comply with the spirit than just the letter)
An editor is trying to insert language into Wikipedia:Citing sources which advocates archiving sources using the http://www.webcitation.org/ site. Although the homepage of that site says it "can be used by authors, editors, and publishers of scholarly papers and books" the new "Citing sources" language advocates that Wikipedia editors submit sites for archiving, regardless of whether the Wikipedia editor has any authority to do so under the copyright laws. -- Gerry Ashton ( talk) 22:42, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
![]() | This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Recently, there have been several extensive arguments over the copyright status of various external links; see Talk:On the Jews and their Lies (status of a Martin Luther translation) and Talk:Fate/stay night (legality of fan-made translations). In my opinion, these arguments are a pointless waste of time. The Foundation is responsible for the content of Wikipedia itself, and, obviously, it is very important to ensure that text, images, and media posted to Wikipedia have an acceptable copyright status. This in itself takes up a lot of time and effort, but it is worth it. What is not worth it is squabbling over the status of sites that we aren't even responsible for. Just the fact that we provide an external link does not constitute an endorsement of the site in question. The argument over On the Jews and their Lies involves a tremendous amount of wasted effort by Wikipedians to determine the copyright status of something that we are not even hosting here. If someone wanted to put it on Wikisource, this discussion would be justified. But an external link just doesn't rise to that level. If the copyright holder has a problem, they can take it up with whatever site actually has posted the material. To put it briefly, it is not our job to police the entire Web, or to do the RIAA and MPAA's job for them. That's not what I signed up for. We can prevent copyright violations on our own site, and refrain from linking to obvious and blatant violations on other sites (e.g. it's pretty obvious that a site that publishes the full text of a Stephen King novel doesn't have the right to do so). But in cases where the issues are unclear, just leave the links in. It's not our problem. *** Crotalus *** 23:14, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
Your argument is weird. It is true that Wikipedia has no legal obligation to pre-emptively investigate the copyright of the material we link to. However, you seem to go further and suggest that any volunteer who chooses to engage in such an investigation is wasting their time and should stop. That is a weird position to take, as if trying to respect copyright is somehow a bad thing. If the investigation is such a waste then anyone is free to ignore the process, but if a likely conclusion is reached (e.g. either infringing or not) then they should still respect the outcome and remove the link if appropriate. Dragons flight 00:19, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
(reset indent) It seems rather odd for a policy page to tell editors what is or is not a good use of their time. Why should you care how they spend their time? AGF doesn't seem to have anything to do with how we should look at possible copyright violations. And we shouldn't be directing people towards blatant copyright violations. No individual Wikipedian is under any obligation to spend hours investigating the content of external sites, but it seems very odd to reword the policy in order to imply that that would be a bad thing. ElinorD (talk) 01:32, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
User:Crotalus horridus wrote: "In my opinion, these arguments are a pointless waste of time. " Keywords there being your opinion. Frankly, you have given nobody here any reason to trust your opinions, and these pages are written by consensus, not editors trying to rewrite policy to push some personal agenda. You are completely outvoted, your ideas are impractical if not dangerous, and you certainly should not be trying to lecture other people on wasting their time when your continuous attempts to rewrite policy are a huge waste of time.
He added: "That's not what I signed up for." Fine. don't do it yourself. But stay the heck out of the way of the editors who do act responsibly and understand the importance of copyright law. DreamGuy 05:13, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
See my talk page (towards bottom). Also, see talk pages of various editors who appeared on my talk page. — Rickyrab | Talk 17:30, 3 June 2007 (UTC)
Do videos on YouTube have any copyright? Is it all right to take screenshots of YouTube videos to use on a Wikipedia article? I would like to know. I am referring to YouTube videos of news reports or music videos. I've got a couple of images that are of the sort that I am unsure. Thanks in advance.-- Kylohk 20:50, 4 June 2007 (UTC)
Can we use Wikipedia logos and copyrighted material on user templates? Technically, it's against policy (no non-free images on templates), yet common sense tells us that its probably the only exception of using non-free content on userspace. This issue was recently discussed here, and currently here. Any clarifications are welcome. - Mtmelendez ( Talk| UB| Home) 02:12, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
Hi folks,
so, what kind of attribution/license do I use when I want to upload a photograph of a copyrighted object. In particular, I'd like to photograph an album packaging to illustrate a critical commentary on the album package, or upload an already existent photograph that forms part of an album review that has been released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 (review: http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/album-review-10000-days-by-tool/ image: http://www.velcro-city.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2006/05//.thumbTool1.jpg)?
Thanks in advance for the help :) Best wishes, Johnnyw talk 16:23, 18 June 2007 (UTC)
Template:PD-Old regime Iraq has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. — Jeff G. 15:12, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
Just today GPLv3 was finalized, taking the focus of the Free Software Foundation off its primary software licenses, and perhaps kicking the ongoing revision of GFDL v. 1.2 into high gear. A preliminary draft of GFDL v. 2 has been online for some time [1] and I'm wondering whether the Wikimedia Foundation is involved in that process, and if so, to what degree. The license of all wikipedia content is such that new versions of the GFDL apply *automatically* to the content once they are finalized. That being the case, I'd think this would be of paramount interest to the community. As I understand it, when GFDL v. 2 goes into effect, the content of wikipedia will become simultaneously available under GFDL 1.2, GFDL 2.0, and GSFDL 1.0. The GSFDL relicensing will happen as a provision of GFDL 2.0 since none of the wikipedia content has cover texts, invariant sections, or anything else of the sort. There's also the possibility that wikipedia will become available under the as yet undrafted GNU Wiki license, again automatically as a provision of GFDL v. 2. Any comments? Deranged bulbasaur 22:30, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
I have a question regarding student publications in U.S. public schools. What kind of copyright restrictions would scans of these publications (eg. cover) have? Would its contents be free use as well? I wasn't sure since U.S. public schools are funded by the government, but the works are student-produced and published by a private company. Thanks! Arsonal 06:59, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
When spoken words are printed somewhere, does the copyright belong to the speaker or the publisher? Or indeed if its spoken publicly is it automatically in the public domain?
The Imperial War Museum has a large collection of photographs from WWII. I believe I can upload these as it satisfies the following:
Performance, copies or lending for educational purposes (from UK copyright law)
Am I correct? Oberiko 13:17, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
I am having trouble parsing this. Does with no Invariant ... Back-Cover Texts modify this document or does it modify copy, distribute and/or modify? Is this intended to mean Wikipedia has no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts? Or is it intended to mean none can ever be added? -- Una Smith 03:41, 10 July 2007 (UTC)
Not sure this is the right place for this. The article Etienne Kuypers is currently up for AFD at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Etienne Kuypers. A substantial part of the article is a translation of the Dutch language website EtienneKuypers.com. The content of the website is copyrighted ("Alle rechten voorbehouden", all rights reserved). The author of the article has denied being the subject of the article, so is not the owner of the copyrights to the website. The question is: does a direct translation of copyrighted content qualify as a copyright violation? A ecis Brievenbus 19:50, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
I find that the wording here is vague and confusing:
"This is based on the image guidelines at IMDB"... what, exactly, is "this" alluding to? is the section describing conditions/sources under which celebrity photos are ok to use? if so, fair use or freely licensed use?
"Legitimate photographs generally come from three different places with permission". "Legitimate" means what? fair use? free license?
I thought I understood Wikipedia policy to be that press kit photos of living celebrities are not acceptable Fair Use and such uploads are Speedy Deleted. Likewise, "Used by Permission" is unacceptable for a GNU/GFDL free license. Now, after reading this section, I don't know what to believe. Am I wrong or has the policy recently changed? If not, it seems that calling such photos "legitimate" is misleading. JGHowes talk - 04:54, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
For sites that copy wikipedia wholesale articles and don't keep it under the GFDL, where and to whom should we complain? Thank you. -- Rajah 19:46, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
This site has a number of West German campaign posters from 1945-1949, showing the main political parties opinion on the territory de-facto annexed by Pland and the Soviet Union; e.g. they want it back and want that the survivors of the ethnic cleansing be allowed to return to their ancestral homes.
I was planning to write an article on the early years of that territory (i.e. the years when Germany was under Allied occupation 1945-1954, and I thought some of the campaign posters wold be relevant to use, to show that Germany at that time had not yet accepted that the territories were lost. They were by West Germany called "German territories temporarily under Polish and Soviet administration" or somthing equivalent. (The polish Communist regime had invented the term "recovered territories" to justify the Polish claim on the territory)
Is there any way for me to be allowed to use the pictures on wikipedia on the article in question (or in Generral)? If there is, what must I do? Thanks. -- Stor stark7 Talk 18:28, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
How original does something need to be to be eligible for copyright? If possible, I would like the opinion of a lawyer; would this be something to ask the Wikimedia legal counsel about? The following are examples of works that may or may not be eligible:
What about something like this: 50px. It contains the US flag which in itself cannot be copyrighted or trademarked, but does the artistic representation of the flag allow a copyright? -- Holderca1 13:30, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
Is it agreed that Image:New Jersey Turnpike Shield.svg is ineligible? It seems like there's just enough creativity to make it eligible, but if I'm overruled I accept it. -- NE2 18:44, 7 August 2007 (UTC)
Current Wikipedia policy on works made by the Soviet government is considering these works copyrighted and not appropriate for Wikipedia. But it should be noted that all state property in the USSR was constiturionally declared all-people's domain, an analog to western public domain. These works (for example, photographs from space) could be used freely by any citizen for any purpose unless the information is secret. So these items should be considered public domain at least in Russia. After the breakup of the USSR there were attempts to transfere some intellectual property to private companies, but those schemes are mostly illegal and are contested in courts.-- Dojarca 12:08, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
A deletion discussion is taking place at [2] which appears to be arguing that three view drawings of aircraft are ineligable for copyright. Megapixie 23:07, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
Is it appropriate to use material from a particular source, but to credit that particular sources citations in the article instead of the author? Torturous Devastating Cudgel 16:54, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
Since we are now receiving copyright opinions and advice from the Foundation's attorney, we need a place to keep track of them for use as precedent (and so he hopefully doesn't get asked the same question 1000 times). So here it is: Wikipedia:Copyrights/MikeGodwinSays. -- But| seriously| folks 21:06, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
Would appreciate if someone with more familiarity with copyright issues and Wikipedia could take a look at the discussion at User_talk:Andi064#Joanne_Catherall_EL. I removed an EL for a fansite that had lyrics on it with no obvious "reproduced by permission" notice on it that I could find, and it got reverted by another editor, who justified the inclusion on the provided link. Would appreciate someone more knowledgeable about the subject helping make the decision on how to proceed. Thanks. -- Alucard (Dr.) | Talk 19:44, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
We've got a Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2007 August 17#Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development of an article deleted for being a copyright violation of a State of California webpage. That webpage says "© 2004 State of California", but links to a condition of use page that says "In general, information presented on this Web site, unless otherwise indicated, is considered in the public domain. It may be distributed or copied as permitted by law. However, the State does make use of copyrighted data (e.g., photographs) which may require additional permissions prior to your use." Can someone with more knowledge than those of us who are deletion focused give us an opinion? Thanks. GRBerry 01:06, 20 August 2007 (UTC)
I have created Wikipedia:Copyright on highway shields as a page to discuss and determine the copyright status of logos for highways, mainly toll roads. Please help, especially if you are familiar with copyright law. Thank you. -- NE2 03:56, 22 August 2007 (UTC)
This deals with pre-1989 law, so I'm having trouble finding the answer. Say an organization created a design (yes, a highway shield). Does every publication of that design have to include the copyright notice for it to be copyrighted, or does only the very first publication require it? -- NE2 11:19, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
With respect to copies and
phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner before the effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, the omission of the copyright notice described in sections 401 through 403 from copies or phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner does not invalidate the copyright in a work if -
[(1) it's on most copies, (2) registration is made within five years AND a "reasonable effort" is made to add it to all previous copies, or (3) it's been omitted by a third party under certain conditions]
It's probably easier to consider a specific case: the
New Jersey Turnpike.
[5] was taken in 1969. This shows the same design as at present (
Image:New Jersey Turnpike Shield.svg; assume it's not PD-ineligible). The sign was not put up by the Turnpike Authority, but the shield was either provided by them or made with specifications given by them. What conditions would have to be met for it to be public domain? --
NE2 11:49, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
"Wikipedia articles therefore will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to certain restrictions, most of which serve to ensure that freedom."
Is the word "forever" appropriate? GFDL restrictions (I won't call them "freedoms") on a work will, like other copyrights, eventually expire, so current versions of Wikipedia will in time enter the public domain. Of course, then they really will be "free forever", so maybe this doesn't matter ...
BuilderQ 17:55, 24 August 2007 (UTC)
I found an image in a book of a painting from 1834. Can I use this image as public domain? Sancho 14:01, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
If I move a discussion from my talk page to another user's talk page, is it technically a violation of the GFDL? The attribution for the edits in the discussion isn't preserved in the history there. Likewise, is " summary style" (moving paragraphs in an article to a separate page when they get too long) a violation of the GFDL? Melsaran ( talk) 14:27, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
Those interested in copyrights and public domain should take a look at this article: Copyfraud and the lengthy paper by Jason Mazzone that is cited in the article.-- Fahrenheit451 21:58, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
Based on [7], which states "Government information shall exist in the public domain to the greatest extent possible", am I correct in saying that most or all works of the Minnesota government are in the public domain? If so, should we create a tag such as {{ PD-MNGov}}? — Remember the dot ( talk) 03:05, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
According to [8], the font used for the "Alberta" in en:Image:AB-provincial highway.png is "restricted to provincial government departments and agencies". I know that fonts are generally not copyrightable in the U.S. (is that true in Canada?); what exactly does that mean here? Can I create an SVG version, or do I have to use a publicly available font that looks similar for a public domain version? -- NE2 06:55, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
At WikiProject Schools we are trying establish some basic guidelines on the copyright and reproduction of school songs, hymns, prayers, etc. As far as I can establish from studying the various Wikipedia guidelines, copyright expires between 50 and 70 years after the author's death. I believe therefore that it is possible to publish in full the song lyrics to for instance the La Martiniere School song on the La Martiniere Lucknow page as the author died in 1909. However, we currently have two good articles Auburn High School and Baltimore City College both of which reproduce lyrics written in the twentieth century. I have tried posting notices on both talk pages about the copyright status of these songs but have not received any replies. In addition I note that there is an entire category dedicated to something called fight songs at Category:Fight songs. I've only looked briefly at these songs but a lot of them seem to have been written quite recently and would appear to be infringing the copyright laws. Some songs are anonymous. What are the copyright laws in this case? Does copyright expire a given number of years after first publication or performance? Can anyone provide a brief outline of the copyright situation which we can put on the main project page to ensure that we are not permitting the publication of any copyrighted material? Dahliarose 12:38, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
I've been searching around Google, looking for webpages that are free to share, distribute and modify. Many have very nice images, but are either CC licensed with NoDerivs or NoCommercial. I've been emailing webmasters, asking them permission to release them without those parameters. How will most webmasters respond? If they distribute them with a CC license in the first place, would they be just as willing to let it be on Wikipedia?-- Alasdair 06:19, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
The instructions here (section "If you find a copyright infringement") need some co-ordination with the procedure given at WP:CP. In particular, WP:CP doesn't seem to say anything about notes on the talk page. Kappa 01:10, 18 September 2007 (UTC) The instructions here say "A note should be made on the talk page"
Hello I have proposed a change to {{ PD-Art}}. At the moment the template ignores one of the basic property laws, by making it sound like if the uploader is in the USA, they may release a work into the Public Domain, even though the copyright is legally detained by a person in another country. If you are interested in discussing please see Template talk:PD-art#International issues, Thanks. Jackaranga 02:04, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
Shouldn't that be "For legal reasons, this text should not be changed."? The current version almost implies that we can change it, as long as our reason is not a legal reason. Aaron McDaid ( talk - contribs) 14:07, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
In the article Bathhouse Row, images are added that are in the Public Domain. If you click on the images on the website from which they are taken, the images have the photographer's name on them. Example: [9] However, the images used in the article have been taken out of a PDF document and the attribution text is missing. Is this O.K. or should the attribution information remain on the photos in the article? Thanks. -- Mattisse 15:08, 27 September 2007 (UTC)
A question about lists that I posted elsewhere a week ago has gone unanswered. (Not even "What a stupid question!") Could somebody take a look? Thanks. -- Hoary 09:05, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
Hello, as you may be aware, in some countries (see Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag#Country-specific rules), photographs of 2 dimensional works that have fallen into the public domain still attract copyright. On the commons it specifically says:
When should the {{ PD-Art}} tag not be used?
On this page it specifically says:
I'm sure I'm beating a dead horse here, but the current statement in the policy --
fosters an overbroad implication, to say the least. Only one case has made this finding, and two others have explicitly made the opposite finding, and a raft of other cases have implicitly made the opposite finding. Rather than suggesting striking the sentence entirely or writing a lot of other text, I'd like to propose a somewhat more moderate and accurate wording:
If Wikimedia's policy is simply to take the absolutely most conservative reading, that's fine; however, the policy should not incorrectly state the rationale as if it were decided law in the US that linking is contributory infringement. It is not. -- lquilter 19:32, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
I've opened a discussion on the next generation of our license at Wikipedia:GSFDL comments from as many as possible are requested. Geni 02:53, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Just a quick sanity-check: for an uploaded photograph or scan of an original photograph: the copyright is that of the original, not the editor's photo or scan of it, right? So an editor couldn't claim a more permissive copyright status ("I took this picture-of-picture and assert {{ GFDL-self-no-disclaimers}}") than the original has without some sort of justification for over-riding an original's copyright status (one that doesn't seem to allow republication)? DMacks 22:26, 14 October 2007 (UTC)
Imagine the following. Wikipedia has an article on Subject X, an organisation copies it somewhere on their websiteand credits it to Wikipedia (to comply with the GFDL), and several years later the article is deleted on grounds of non-notability. Would the organisation then be in violation of the GFDL? After all, the article doesn't exist anymore on Wikipedia, so there is no way to check who wrote what. Melsaran ( talk) 19:44, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
Hello,
recently a user changed the {{ R from merge}} template to display a warning that basically says, "don't use this template". He claims a GFDL problem, referring to a mailing list discussion (see Template talk:R from merge#Template and the GFDL).
However, all instructions, such as WP:MM, refer to this template and encourage (if not require) its use. This seems very confusing.
Is there really a GFDL issue here? If so, the documentation should be updated soon. How should mergers be performed when not using the template? Could someone clarify? -- B. Wolterding 13:23, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
In order to contribute, you must be in a position to grant this license, which means that either ... you acquired the material from a source that allows the licensing under GFDL, for instance because the material is in the public domain or is itself published under GFDL.
i think there should be added: "and if the author of the material has given permission to not-showing his name after the title", following GNU FDL- 4.B:
unless they release you from this requirement.
more full quote:
4. MODIFICATIONS In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version: ... B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement. ...
quote about title:
1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS ... The "Title Page" means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.
now at Wikipedia:Copyrights is writed thus:
Contributors' rights and obligations If you contribute material to Wikipedia, you thereby license it to the public under the GFDL (with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts). In order to contribute, you must be in a position to grant this license, which means that either you hold the copyright to the material, for instance because you produced it yourself, or you acquired the material from a source that allows the licensing under GFDL, for instance because the material is in the public domain or is itself published under GFDL.
and nothing about that wikipedia-writer must write author names after title of the material, and so wikipedia-writers ca easily terminate gnu fdl license by not writing/showing/listing at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five) "on the Title Page" (For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.232.124.15 ( talk) 21:02, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
same is writen here (not by me): —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.232.124.15 ( talk) 10:44, 29 October 2007 (UTC) russian wikipedia:criticizm of wikipedia:?nonobservance of gnu fdl -4.5 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.232.124.15 ( talk) 10:38, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
I found a website Panyathai ( http://www.panyathai.or.th/wiki), they copied hundreds or thousands of Wikipedia articles without providing source or GFDL link. They say only "Thank you Wikipedia" and that's all. What should I do in this case? I contact the website owner last two months but they haven't got me back. -- Manop - TH 19:10, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
Regarding the GFDL license of Wikipedia, I have a question for which I could not yet find a direct answer. Perhaps someone here could help me?
Say someone downloaded the wikipedia data (from http://download.wikimedia.org/) and set up a website which answered some specific kind of users' queries based on the data, using some advanced, proprietary, secret algorithm, and did not release the code. Would this be a breach of the license? (Of course, the system would acknowledge and link back to the original article(s) from which the original data was taken.)
Let me give a concrete example: The wikipedia contains a lot of data on various sports, such as yearly final standings of the NBA. One could write a piece of software which analyzed this data and, based on users queries, output some reprocessed versions of it. Would setting up such a website (say, for making money by selling ads) and not releasing the source code violate the copyright?
From reading the license and various discussions on the net my guess is that this is perfectly legitimate use of the wikipedia data. For instance, I found the following quote: "Generally, a summary (or analysis) of something is not a derivative work, unless it reproduces the original in great detail, at which point it becomes an abridgement and not a summary." Nevertheless, I am not completely sure and so I thought I'd ask the experts, i.e. you.
Thanks a lot for any help/comments!
-- Phoyer 17:10, 1 November 2007 (UTC)
As I understand it, objects whose "useful purpose" outweighs their creativity are automatically considered PD-ineligible. For example, the creative element (e.g. colour and shape) will not affect the nature of a pen or a bus, whereas it will affect the nature of a sculpture or a painting.
There are a lot of "PD-ineligible" images here however, which contain the manufacturer's logo, which by itself IS copyrighted. My question therefore is "If an image of a 'useful object' contains a copyrighted component, should the image remain PD ineligible?". I suspect not, but I'd appreciate some more input here. There are a lot of these images being moved to Commons, when I think they should actually stay here under fair use.
A couple of examples:
Thanks, Papa November 12:16, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
Can someone look at the fair use rationale on [ [10]]? I don't even know where to begin... Compaqdrew 22:39, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
Is content taken from daviswiki.org OK? or COPYVIO? It is licensed under "Creative Commons Attribution License" which when clicked on the bottom of their pages points to version 3.0. Carlossuarez46 20:04, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
I have edited language on the project page to include this unambiguous statement, "Contributors who repeatedly post copyrighted material after appropriate warnings will be blocked from editing to protect the project." A statement of this sort may be required by a provision of the DMCA:
(i) Conditions for Eligibility.—
(1) Accommodation of technology.— The limitations on liability established by this section shall apply to a service provider only if the service provider—
(A) has adopted and reasonably implemented, and informs subscribers and account holders of the service provider’s system or network of, a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of subscribers and account holders of the service provider’s system or network who are repeat infringers; and"
We have the policy, but not the statement. Fred Bauder ( talk) 15:53, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
I am planning to start a wiki which I would like to 'seed' with a number of articles derived from wikipedia. Originally I just assumed all I would need to do this would be to put my own wiki under the GFDL and reference wikipedia as the source of any derived articles. I have now realised it is far more complex than that; so complex I don't actually understand what I am required to do. Do I need to find the last five editors of each article and refer to them under the title? Do I need to change my system so it does not allow anonymous edits in order to keep a track of history? etc etc. It would be far easier to understand if there were some pointers to examples of good practice. Clearly these could not be guaranteed to be compliant, and they would have to be dated ('this was a good example as of November 2007'), but they would still be very helpful in trying to interpret the mass of conditions in the GFDL (how on earth does anyone enforce the 'more than 100 printouts' type of conditions? If you have no invariant or title pages, where is all the required information supposed to go? etc)
Marinheiro ( talk) 18:23, 22 November 2007 (UTC) (It is possible that what I am trying to do is meant to be discouraged by the license; if so, it would also be helpful to know that. I would rather comply with the spirit than just the letter)
An editor is trying to insert language into Wikipedia:Citing sources which advocates archiving sources using the http://www.webcitation.org/ site. Although the homepage of that site says it "can be used by authors, editors, and publishers of scholarly papers and books" the new "Citing sources" language advocates that Wikipedia editors submit sites for archiving, regardless of whether the Wikipedia editor has any authority to do so under the copyright laws. -- Gerry Ashton ( talk) 22:42, 28 November 2007 (UTC)